December 1, 2019The high-spirited November gathering of some of the world’s most talented interior designers at 1stdibs’ Chelsea Gallery celebrated a profession that, in its conjuring of domestic beauty, seems to be inching ever closer to high art. The 1stdibs 50 list for 2019 — the third edition of the annual roster — includes illustrious established names as well as emerging talents. All have devised exemplary rooms distinguished by curatorial prowess — the unerring ability to zero in on extraordinary furnishings, art and objects and juxtapose them in a way that elevates a room to the sublime.
This year’s 1stdibs 50 honorees were recognized at the 1stdibs Gallery, where Andrés Reisinger created an installation showcasing their work. The piece included an interactive maze intended, the artist says, “to express the designers’ creative process — the euphoria of brainstorming, the dizziness of progress, the satisfaction of the final result.”
At the recent event, honorees gamely posed for portraits against swaths of pink drapery and mingled with a chic crowd sipping maple-rosemary sours chilled by artisanal ice cubes. The occasion also marked the debut of a witty installation by Barcelona-based multidisciplinary designer Andrés Reisinger, which will remain on view at the 44,000-square-foot Gallery through the end of the year.
Draped in billowy white fabric, this tunnel-like space is hung with photos, printed on fabric, of rooms by designers like Sara Story, Charlotte Barnes and S.R. Gambrel.
Reisinger, who recently joined the 1stdibs maker/seller community, offering his own floral-inspired Hortensia chair and other objects, suspended hundreds of yards of pink and white fabric from railings along the ceiling to create an undulating wall, a cathedral-like tunnel and an interactive maze that is intended, the designer says, “to express the designers’ creative process — the euphoria of brainstorming, the dizziness of progress, the satisfaction of the final result.”
Displayed throughout are enlarged photos of the 1stdibs 50’s distinctive spaces, including such fantasias as Redd Kaihoi’s screening room for a Los Angeles residence, teeming with luxuriant pattern and detail. “The rest of the house is bright and modernist,” says David Kaihoi, a partner in the firm with Miles Redd. “This room is a foil to it. We wanted it to feel like an Ottoman den.” The scheme began with the walls, which were soundproofed and upholstered with linen in a complex Persian pattern by Iksel, followed by green velvet tufted sofas and an elaborate Venetian gilded mirror. “Anything with a rich palette or luxe quality seemed to find a place in this room,” Kaihoi says.
Inside the Event
In another photo tucked into the maze, a chair made of stuffed bunny rabbits belonging to designer Fawn Galli’s clients sets the tone for an unconventional narrative in a bright Manhattan living room. Contemporary pieces like BDDW’s minimalist sling chairs and a midnight-blue velvet sofa are paired with a 1950s Ico Parisi side table; Yves Klein’s Monogold coffee table, a reissued 1963 design made of gold leaf, plexiglass, wood and steel; and a Michelle James chandelier incorporating antique glass fixtures. An infinity mirror by Ivan Navarro hung above the marble mantelpiece “brings depth and mystery to the space,” says Galli. “When you’re mixing styles to that extent, it’s about finding balance. If you have a bunny chair, you need simple Roman shades.”
An undulating wall features photos of rooms by Thad Hayes and Sasha Adler.
On view inside the tunnel is Sara Story’s moody dining room in a Central Park West apartment, where the absence of art on deep blue walls makes furnishings and objects stand out in high relief. The scheme began with a 1960s Swedish carpet, whose blocks of mellow color were, the designer says, “the jumping-off point for all the other elements in the room, feeding into the aubergine velvet chairs, the blue paper walls and, eventually, the big punch of white” in a looping custom chandelier by Mathieu Lehanneur. The space works a subtle charm on its occupants, the result of Story’s cunning manipulations. “I felt strongly that the room’s nuances needed to unfold the longer you were in the space and make you never want to leave.”
Inside the Event
Wesley Moon’s work is represented by a colossal New Jersey dining room, displayed on the exterior of the maze, that is curated with envelope-pushing art and a suite of delicate Victorian bamboo chairs. The prevailing custom of mixing antique treasures with recently minted ones is “really nothing new,” the designer says. “What is English country house style but families that owned a house for centuries and never threw anything away?” What we’re seeing now, in Moon’s view, are “contemporary interpretations of a home collected over time,” a practice happily facilitated by the existence of 1stdibs. “It’s the future of interior design in a nutshell, a one-stop shop and an arbiter of taste.”
This celebration of the third annual roster of distinctive spaces is also the first time that the honorees were showcased at the 1stdibs Gallery, which opened in February.
Even at the recent gallery event, Australian born and Hamptons-based Timothy Godbold kept a keen curatorial eye open. “I just now saw a sofa I like,” the designer, who was recognized for his impeccably kitted-out Marin County dining room, said between sips of a drink and while gesturing toward a booth just beyond the exhibition. “I can’t stop shopping!”
